 |
Pump Iron - Burn FatPump Iron - Burn Fat Exercise is the best way to naturally and permanently boost your metabolism and burn fat. When you try to lose fat without exercising, you'll lose more muscle than fat. Your goal must be twofold: shed fat and develop additional lean muscle. Exercise, specifically strength training, can help you do both in a number of ways. Strength training helps add muscle. The more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism. A faster metabolism translates into greater fat burning. One pound of muscle helps your body burn 18,000–25,000 calories in a year. Losing one pound of muscle does the opposite. Most people who take up strength training for the first time love the results. It has the potential to change the shape of your body tremendously. Unless you strength train, you will lose about half a pound of muscle a year after the age of 20. You will replace that with a pound of fat a year. So, by the time you're 40, you've lost 20 pounds of lean metabolic muscle and gained 40 pounds of stored fat. On the scale, you're 20 pounds heavier, but your body composition has changed dramatically in unfavorable proportions. A pound of muscle takes 35-50 calories a day to "feed." A pound of fat takes only 2 calories a day to feed. If you gain 5 pounds of muscle, you can expect to burn an additional 250 calories a day. That translates into 25 pounds lost at the end of the year -- without cutting out a single calorie. So, what can you expect? In 7–24 weeks of strength training, 2–3 times weekly, you can expect to increase your lean body mass (muscle) approximately 5 percent. To get the greatest return for your strength training efforts, you must challenge your muscles. You can do that by lifting more weight or doing more repetitions (adding another set or slowing down the range of motion, among other techniques). It's important to keep a workout log of your weights and reps, so you can be sure to do a little more -- or something differently than you did last time. The last thing you should do is go through the same motions with the same exercises and resistance, workout after workout. You will never progress. You should optimally strength train three times a week with a day of rest in between. Two days is good for beginners or for maintenance, but three will help you progress and keep your metabolism fueled. In addition to helping to add lean metabolically active muscle, the actual strength training session burns fat during and following the exercise session. This is known as afterburn. Some studies have shown that strength training produces a greater caloric afterburn than cardio. In one study, 40 minutes of strength training produced a 36 percent higher increase in metabolism than the equivalent of cycling. Remember that we need some fat on our body to function properly. Stored fat is the largest reservoir of fuel that we have. The average person has 100,000 calories worth of fat stored on their body -- roughly enough to run for 200 hours. If you're looking to burn excess fat, strength training is a large piece of the fat-burning puzzle. When combined with a wholesome and nutritious diet in the proper caloric amounts along with regular and intense cardiovascular exercise, you can truly maximize your fat burning efforts. Don’t worry if weight loss is happening slower than you would like. As you develop lean muscle tissue and lose body fat, you’ll lose inches along with pounds. You will be adding lean muscular weight and will appear trimmer, firmer and more defined in the mirror -- exactly the way you’d want to look on the beach.
Kelli Calabrese MS, CSCS, 2004 Personal Trainer of the Year - Online Training. Kelli is a 20 year fitness industry leader. She has 3 fitness related degrees and 24 Fitness, Nutrition and Lifestyle related certifications. Kelli is the former Lead Fitness Expert for eDiets and eFitness and remains a regular contributor. Kelli is the author of Feminine, Firm & Fit - Building A Lean Strong Body in 12 Weeks www.FeminineFirmandFit.com.
She has transformed thousands of bodies just like yours. She is available for phone coaching, online training, grocery shopping tours, seminars, and media opportunities. For more information go to www.KelliCalabrese.com
|
